Partners in Crime

In “Partners in Crime,” literary agents Chris Matthews and Freddy Stacey are living under a shadow of paranoia after stealing a priceless, jewel-encrusted Louis XIV dagger during a trip abroad—a theft that left Captain Frisco dead. Now someone is trying to kill them, and each is convinced the other is plotting a double-cross. When Captain Frisco’s look-alike brother appears, the pressure tightens, and Chris decides the safest path is eliminating Freddy and fleeing to Mexico with the dagger. But when Freddy confronts him at gunpoint, the plan explodes into violence, leaving Freddy dead. Chris then lures the smuggler Higgins to a beach house to finish the job and escape with the treasure, only to learn Freddy already took the dagger off the ship. Chris thinks he can still salvage the scheme—until the sheriff arrives with Freddy’s body, the dagger, and the address Chris himself had forced Higgins to write down. In that instant, Chris’s perfect getaway collapses, undone by his own instructions.